The World’s Largest Navy…

“Within four years [1809], the [Royal] navy had 113 seaworthy ships of the line, to which were added the 596 cruisers, which had trebled in number since 1793, as the navy used every sinew to prosecute the war: it was the only time in history before the Second World War that one navy deployed half of the world’s warships (the US Navy outstripped that achievement in 1945).” (Rapport, 2013, p.90)

Reference

Rapport, M. (2013) The Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction. London: Oxford University Press.